2. Will Rogers Shrine of the Sun: This sprawling castle in Cheyenne Mountain in Colorado Springs, is located at 8,136 feet in elevation- just tall enough to let everyone you mean business. A castle this high up in the mountains is not for the faintest of heart. This would be a great place to throw a Halloween soiree….or play a great game of hide-n-seek.
The Colorado Territory was created on February 28, 1861,[22] Arapahoe County was formed on November 1, 1861,[22] and Denver City was incorporated on November 7, 1861.[23] Denver City served as the Arapahoe County Seat from 1861 until consolidation in 1902.[24] In 1867, Denver City became the territorial capital. With its newfound importance, Denver City shortened its name to Denver.[24] On August 1, 1876, Colorado was admitted to the Union.
From 1953 to 1989, the Rocky Flats Plant, a DOE nuclear weapon facility that was about 15 miles from Denver, produced fissile plutonium "pits" for nuclear warheads. A major fire at the facility in 1957, as well as leakage from nuclear waste stored at the site between 1958 and 1968, resulted in the contamination of some parts of Denver, to varying degrees, with plutonium-239, a harmful radioactive substance with a half-life of 24,200 years.[37] A study by the Jefferson County health director, Dr. Carl Johnson, in 1981, linked the contamination to an increase in birth defects and cancer incidence in central Denver and nearer Rocky Flats. Later studies confirmed many of his findings.[38][39][40] Plutonium contamination was still present outside the former plant site as of August 2010,[41] and presents risks to building the envisioned Jefferson Parkway,[42] which would complete Denver's automotive beltway.
MediaNews Group purchased the Denver Post in 1987; the company is based in Denver. The Gates Corporation, the world's largest producer of automotive belts and hoses, was established in S. Denver in 1919. Russell Stover Candies Inc. made its first chocolate candy in Denver in 1923, but moved to Kansas City in 1969. The Wright & McGill Company has been making its Eagle Claw brand of fishing gear in NE Denver since 1925. The original Frontier Airlines began operations at Denver's old Stapleton International Airport in 1950; Frontier was reincarnated at DIA in 1994. Scott's Liquid Gold, Inc., has been making furniture polish in Denver since 1954. Village Inn restaurants began as a single pancake house in Denver in 1958. Big O Tires, LLC, of Centennial opened its first franchise in 1962 in Denver. The Shane Company sold its first diamond jewelry in 1971 in Denver. Johns Manville Corp., a manufacturer of insulation and roofing products, relocated its headquarters to Denver from New York in 1972. CH2M HILL Inc., an engineering and construction firm, relocated from Oregon to the Denver Technological Center in 1980. The Ball Corporation sold its glass business in Indiana in the 1990s and moved to suburban Broomfield; Ball has several operations in greater Denver.